Coffee Moments

I love spending the first few moments of my day in bed, sipping on a cup of coffee and cream, snuggled up against Daniel. Some mornings I may pull out a book and read a few pages while I do so, and on others I jot down a few intentions for the day in my journal. There are also mornings where I do nothing but lie in bed, enjoying my coffee and the uninterrupted time with my partner. It is in these first few moments of the day that I feel calm, entirely centered.

As I eventually have to leave my bed and prepare for the day ahead, I notice my energy state begins to shift. I open my planner to see all that I have committed to doing in the day before me. I start to strategize around how I will get it all in – that perfect schedule to make it all work. I check my email only to get inundated with more information and tasks to complete. The calm, centered feeling begins to dissipate…replaced with something that is more frantic and frenzied.

    Can you relate? 

    After taking six months away from the traditional American working schedule, I am finding it difficult to transition back. 

    Don’t misunderstand me, I enjoy my work and appreciate the flexibility in hours that substitute teaching provides. I just miss feeling like I am able to move through my day in a way and at a pace that is in alignment with what my body is asking. I miss that feeling of time being abundant, as opposed to limited. Adulting is hard. 

    I want to experience that feeling of being calm and centered throughout my day, not just during those first few moments of the morning. I’d like to feel as though I am moving through my day with intentionality – connecting with the people in my life, the projects I am taking on, not just going through the motions. 

    But how? 

    Well, what is it about that experience of lying in bed with my coffee that allows me to feel so calm and centered? It is the quiet and stillness it provides. I am not yet trying to do anything in particular. I am simply being. It is relaxing. It is contemplative. It is a pause before the hustle. 

    Once I step out of bed and set the events of my day into motion, I find it so much more challenging to give myself moments of real “pause”. I am afraid that if I do then I won’t be able to get it all done. It being all of the items I have convinced myself must get done on any given day. 

    Yet, by not pausing and just trudging forward, I finish my day feeling disconnected, off center, and uprooted. While I may have gotten it all done, I am not sure of the quality of my work or the impact behind it. I end up feeling like it wasn’t really intentional, more just mechanical. 

    Those pauses – those moments of quiet and stillness – I think that is where the magic happens for me. Perhaps for you too? It is only in those moments that I can check in with myself, re-evaluate the direction in which I am moving and continue on with intention. While I may get less done, I am quite certain that what I get done will be of higher quality, hold more authenticity, and be of greater value to the overall work of creating my life. 

    What could these pauses look like for me as I move through a work week, balancing multiple commitments? How can I create more of those “coffee moments”? I love the idea of doing something so simple as taking five deep breaths each time I get in, or out, of my car. Or coming home and sitting outside with a glass of wine and a book before starting in on dinner preparations. Perhaps at lunch I could do nothing more than fully enjoy being present with my food. 

    Those are such small things that hold a lot of power over my general wellbeing. They make the difference between running around like a chicken with its head chopped off versus living from that place where I feel calm and centered – more like the elegant, graceful woman I aim to be. 

We all have obligations and commitments that tug us in many different directions. Where can you find that space to pause so as to move through those obligations and commitments in a way that feels good to you? How can you bring more of those “coffee moments” into your day?